Total 24 Hours of Spa - Final Two Hours The #116 Signa Viper stopped at T5 but has rejoined after a brief delay. 14:08 - Mike Jordan is back aboard the Preci Spark Mercedes and, as the #20 Ferrari makes its penultimate routine stop he takes the Pro-Am class lead once agai, Guillaume Moreau 25.4 seconds behind as both teams throw their fastest men into the task. Thomas Jager sets the fastest lap of the #35 Black Falcon Merc's race on lap 491, the gap to the wecond placed BMW ahead though is 8 laps. 14:14 The leader pits, Franchi stays aboard and, after a slightly delayed release to allow a team member to clean out the radiator grille, he's on his way once againwell over 6 minutes ahead of the #76 BMW. 14:19 Westbrook leaves the pits in the now 8th placed #888 Manthey Haribo Porsche but the car is alight at the rear! - A team member attempts to warn Richard buit he's finally brought to a halt at the pit exit, the car blocking the exit of the #43 BMW, as the marshals extinguish the flames. Westbrook is out of the car and out of the race, he stalks away disconsulately, not even a bumper pack of Starmix will make that one feel better. That means the leading Porsche at present is now the 19th placed Muehlner Porsche! Moreau took 10 seconds out of Jordan's advantage quite quickly in the Pro-Am battle. The tenth placed #4 Hexis Aston is circulating with smoke or steam pouring from the car, Makowiecki bringing it back rather quickly but the car is pushed into the garage! 14:38 The #41 Marc VDS Ford GT takes tenth. 14:41 Moreau is within 2 seconds of the class leading Mercedes. The #124 Porsche is dropping back and has lost the class lead to the #19 Level racing car as a team member knocks merry hell out of the Muehlner car's drivers side door frame with a sledgehammer - German engineering at its best! 14:45 - Moreau leads Pro-Am and is 6th overall. The second placed GT4 car, the 100 BMW, is sporting a rear bumper which is flapping on the left hand side - a likely technical warning flag methinks Its second place in class is not under threat though as there are only too runners left in the class with the RJN Nissan well clear, now 10 laps to the good. The #12 United Autosports Audi stopped briefly on track, Luyendyk at the wheel but the car is circulating again now, still on 18th place. Into the final hour and we are getting cars making their final stops now - Amongst the first of the significant runners is Mike Jordan in the #90 Mercedes. 15:12 The Cup class leader, the #56 RMS Porsche, has stopped at T13 15:15 The leader pits, it's Scheider by the way, not Franchi at the wheel, Ekstrom checks he's OK to stay aboard and gives him a pat of encouragement before slamming the door and leaving him to it - It's an otherwise very straightforward stop and he's on his way. Should be the final stop before the flag for the leader. The sister #32 car meanwhile is under investigation for overtaking under Yellows, it happened at the Bus Stop as the #98 Audi had a trip across the run off zone. #32 is currently 4th, well clear of the fifth placed car. The stewards say no further action for the alleged infringement. 15:31. The #12 R8 comes to a halt at the end of the pitlane, and has to be towed clear. Another catch-up with Ecurie ecosse, and a chance to speak with Andrew Smityhm, who finished his last stint about an hour ago. “The last time the car came in for an ECU check, the team had the car up on the stands, and noticed a leak from one of the drive shafts,” explained Andrew Smith. “We did a precautionary change, and were pulled in for about 40 minutes. That knocked us back a bit.” Andrew had been in the car earlier this morning when the recurrent problem reared its head. “When the ECU failed on me, I was very lucky. I was coming through the Bus Stop. The engine just died, and there was no warning. I managed to get over into the pitlane, but if I’d been further round the track, well . . . . who knows. We think the constant misfire is causing the ECU to burn out. The misfire is at its worst on half-throttle, and you have to work up through the revs very carefully. Once you’re over 6000 rpm it’s okay.”
Although there have been mutterings within the team of trying to get the car out again this year, the focus for Andrew and the other three drivers is to concentrate on securing the necessary funding for a full season in 2012. “This weekend has been an excellent opportunity to develop relationships with our sponsors, and it’s been very rewarding. We’re now looking forward to next year.” Oliver Bryant and Joe Twyman joined us in the Press Room to explain that the team had been single-stinting the front-left tyre, but double-stinting the other three. They were also grateful for some major assistance from the Hexis team, after the #79 had struggled back to the pits. The car made it as far as the Hexis pit, where the Hexis team replaxced the ECU with one of their spares, and from there, the #79 was able to get back to its own garage. The team then discovered a problem with a jammed throttle body. The Ecurie Ecosse Aston is challenging for 20th place. The #32 Audi, currently running 4th, Albuquerque having just unlapped himself, is closing in very fast inded on the third-placed Black Falcon Mercedes, which would give WRT a one-three finish. Eighteen minutes to go and the Audi and Mercedes are nose-to-tail, but unexpectedly, the #32 pits at the end of the lap. Joy, or relief, in the Black Falcon pit! By the time the car is released, the Mercedes is already through Les Combes, and still with three-quarters of the pitlane to negotiate. The Ecurie Ecosse Aston grabs a last ditch top 20 finish as the Aston overhauls the stationary Haribo Porsche. It’s game over as far as a race for the final podium place is concerned , the #32 car concentrates on forming up for a team photo at the finish line, the WRT team completing a 1-4 finish that firmly put their factory-backed Phoenix colleagues in the shade. It’s a first overall 24 hour race win for the Audi R8 LMS and only the second of the major 24 hour endurance classes to be won by Ingolstadt. Well done indeed to Greg Franchi, Mathias Ekstrom and Timo Scheider. With the almost flawless run of the #76 Team Need for Speed by Schubert Racing BMW coming home second and the #35 Black Falcon Mercedes SLS AMG in third it’s three German marques on the podium. The BMW crew of Claudia Hurtgen, Edward Sandstrom and Dirk Werner bounce back ffrom a nightmare Nurburgring 24 Hour for the team to bring home a significant classic race podium finish. For Black Falcon well done too to Kenneth Heyer, Thomas Jager and local man Stephane Lemeret. Pro-Am falls to the #20 Sofrev ASP Ferrari 458 of Guillaume Moreau, Ludovic Badey, Franck Morel and Jean-Luc Beabelique, in the end comfortably clear of the trio of British GT Champions aboard the #90 Team Preci Spark Mercedes – Mike Jordan, Godfrey Jones and David Jones another team that impressed mightily. Third in class were the #50 AF Corse crew, anchored by Matt Griffin with Marco Cioci, Nicki Cadei and Jack Gerber , the Italian team bringing home a podium after a number of problems. The Gentlemans trophy saw a late change of lead, the #19 Level Racing Porsche crew coming home just ahead of Martin Rich, Tim Bergmeister, Sebastian Asch and Jochen Krumbach aboard the #124 Muelhner Porsche crew. The #116 Signa Viper came home to fill the final step of that class podium. In GT4 it was another spirited effort from RJN Motorsport that clinched the win, the team’s Nissan 370 Z too strong for the #100 BMW of DVB Motorsport, Alex Buncombe, Jordan Tresson and Christopher Ward taking the laurels. Finally the stricken #56 RMS Cup Porsche took that win, despite being stationary at the finish, the car had completed enough laps to ensure that the sister #57 car could not overhaul it for the class win. Amongst the race finishers there will be reason to celebrate for Ecurie Ecosse and Barwell Motorsport, a stoic display saw the #79 car home in a top 20 slot (and with Danny Bear aboard too!) Mclaren GT will have been downhearted about the problems for the two factory cars earlier on in the race but will be delighted with the data provided by the first customer car. 25th position for the #60 MP4-12C GT3. United Autosports had a far from trouble free run but the team turned their problems around with much efficiency – 2 out of three home will be a reason to tick plenty of boxes, both finishing in the top 20 overall and in the top ten of the very competitive Pro-Am class. A big thank you on behlf of our readers to United to their backing for the free to view coverage of this race - They're funding another too later this year - More details of that as soon as we can. Vita4One will be bitterly disappointed with the ultimate results for the #1 and #2 Ferraris but pleased that points are on the board for the Series. The Scuderia Vittoria crew behind the third #29 car will be pleased to bring their baby home. There were disasters for Blancpain Reiter, Prospeed and Phoenix and disappointments for Hexis Racing and Marc VDS in not delivering on the promise of their packages. Overall was the move to GT3 as a top class a success? It produced a large grid of high quality, it produced variety and interest and it gave us some close and very competitive racing for long periods. What it didn’t do for this year at least was to sustain the competitive edge to the very end in the way that we have seen this race produce drama after drama in recent seasons. This though is year zero of the new plan. We’re happy to see what emerges in 2012 with the Blancpain Endurance Series looking set to move up a further gear or two. | 
